Qatari Diar Real Estate Co., having already invested $700 million in CityCenterDC, may invest a third of a billion dollars more in other D.C. projects.

So said Victor Hoskins, D.C’s deputy mayor for planning and economic development, during a 2015 budget oversight hearing Wednesday before the D.C. Council’s economic development committee.

Established in 2005 by the Qatar Investment Authority, Qatari Diar’s first significant U.S. investment was in Hines Interests LP’s CityCenterDC. Qatari Diar will open a CityCenterDC office later this year, and it “continues to explore” investments “in the range of a third of a billion,” Hoskins said.

“I won’t get into further details," Hoskins said, "but that seems to be moving ahead.”

Hoskins would not offer anything more.

Walter Reed? McMillan? We'll have to wait and see.

That little nugget was among the newsiest, albeit vague, items to emerge from the four-hour hearing, which featured discussions on several important D.C. projects. Let’s take them one by one.

On Poplar Point

The FBI is not coming to Poplar Point. That much is clear. What’s not clear: What the District will do with the 110 acres of Anacostia parkland when it finally seizes control of the property from the federal government.

D.C. pitched Poplar Point for the new FBI headquarters, but there’s virtually no chance it goes there given the space constraints and the amount of work needed to prepare the contaminated grounds for new development. District officials have previously estimated it will cost upward of $60 million just to relocate existing federal facilities from the property.

“With that process being less likely, we are still pursuing everything we need to do to pursue that transfer, it’s just that other priorities took precedent,” Jeff Miller, D.C.’s director of real estate, told the council committee.

The fiscal 2014-2019 capital plan included $13 million for Poplar Point. The proposed 2015-2020 plan includes nada. Environmental studies continue, but those won’t be finished for a couple more years, officials said.

“Because last year we had the urgency of the FBI, and the potential use of that site as an FBI landing spot, the sense of urgency was much more elevated,” Miller said.

On Walter Reed

D.C. Councilwoman Muriel Bowser is not only the Democratic nominee for mayor and the economic development chair, but she is also the Ward 4 council member, and she represents the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

In other words, Walter Reed must be a top priority. And the $1.3 million that Mayor Vincent Gray has included in the fiscal 2015 budget for the Walter Reed transformation, in Bowser’s mind, clearly doesn’t cut it.

“We want to make sure that everybody who’s talking about investing there knows the city is going to be in just like they are and the only way to demonstrate that is to commit to it in the budget,” Bowser said, suggesting the $1.3 million will be increased in her budget mark-up.

Miller noted that the Army still controls the District’s 67-acre slice of Walter Reed, and the two sides are in the earliest stages of talks to settle on a price. The final number will have to account for needed infrastructure improvements and the value of the development pads, among numerous other factors.

“There’s a net number that we’re working toward,” Miller said, but he couldn’t say what it might be, though he indicated it would fall between the $50 million D.C. has set aside for work at the McMillan Sand Filtration Plant and the $113 million it has dedicated to the St. Elizabeths east campus. “It’s what we’re struggling with right now.”

On The Yards

The effort to relocate D.C. Water’s fleet from Capitol Riverfront continues, with a new focus outside of D.C.

City Administrator Allen Lew told the council on Monday that talks are underway to move some sewage trucks from 125 O St. SE to Prince George’s County, and perhaps others to a private trash transfer station in Ward 5.

The proposed budget plan includes $9 million for a new D.C. Water facility, somewhere, in addition to the $6.1 million allotted in the 2014 capital program. Whether that money remains is largely Bowser's call. She has said she supports the project.

The negotiations on a new site are very preliminary, Miller said, but the city still hopes to get a deal done in the near term, to move those sewage trucks and allow Forest City Washington to get working on its project as soon as possible. The development is expected to include 600 residences, a Showplace Icon movie theater and significant street-level retail.

As I reported in February, the District’s first pitch on a new D.C. Water site, near the new 11th Street Bridge, was rejected, potentially setting the project back months, if not years.